OK There is only one way to help, Send me your name and mailing address and relief will be mailed A.S.A.P.
Gary

How about a field trip to NC . We have been harvesting all week but still have 3 more varieties to get up. 5 tubs of garlic in the shed ready to size, trim roots and cut stalks and all the kettle river giant to hang (we planted 25 lbs of it)!!! You can come and help and I will be glad to give you some !!!
The Garlic lady

I feel for you. Will happily donate to the relief fund, especially if you need seed stock for next season. I couldnt bear another season of what should be growing, harvesting etc...

Warthog

Similar problem here last fall, but mostly too many other committments gave me small planting windows, which where interrupted by rain and cold

I did get about 60 cloves of, dang it, I can only come up with Killian's Red, but that's not a garlic, at least that's not the picture in my mind! The variety is excaping me. Anyway, only about 30 came-up, and only about 20 of those are doing any good. How I long for the picking, cleaning and hanging of hundreds. Aaahhhhh!

I planted 80 spring garlic, not quite as early as I'd have liked. 12 came up and only 4 or 5 are of any size right now. While not totally screwed, I am having a bit of withdrawal also.

And to make it worse, I have had no less than 20 requests for my garlic braids and sample ropes from friends, customers, a restaurant, and a store. So, there goes a couple hundred dollars in sales, plus the fun of braiding and making ropes. I am already prepping the falls spot, and marking my calendar so as not to be distracted. Hopefully with more time, there will be less impact by the weather.

The saddest part, is that I had 5 or 6 varieties that I had been growing for 4-5 years and they were sizing up nicely, and very consistently. Now it's back to square 1!

My sample ropes are made from the red mesh ropes that are used for bags or to cover braids. I know on end then I put in 2 bulbs of a variety, then another knot, 2 bulbs of a different variety, another knot, and so on. For each variety I print a card stock weight tag with a description and history (much like a catalog write-up) and attach to the appropriate section of the 'rope'. I usually use the medium and mis-shapen bulbs. Ones that won't braid well, aren't seed stock, and aren't big enough for individual sell. It's not as labor intensive as it sounds.

Folks hang it in their kitchen, and cut a small hole in the section they want and squeeze the bulb out and back in, or just pop a clove or 2 and leave the bulb in.

Oh Nelz I love your rope Idea !! Is it ok if i use it at my market? We have several new kinds and that would be a greaty way for people to sample them!

That's exactly right, Nelz. Back to square one, when some of the varieties were just getting into their adaptive prime.

Sure, Killian's Red is a variety: A. carbonade var. rouge. :>)

The real killer was losing the Gravel Switch. I managed to send some to a friend who said they germinated fine. I have to check with her to see how they're doing. If she loses them, they are gone. Nobody else I know of is growing them.

For those who've offered to help fill the gaps, I thank you. All donations cheerfully accepted. You can send them to: Brook, Box 519, Richmond, KY 40476.

Garlic Lady: I'd love to take you up on that. Unfortunately, we're up to it in alligators with this remodeling, and there's no way I can make a road trip at this time.

Gary: You've got mail.

GardenLad - On the upside here is I didn't have any rare or endangered varieties. I did have some expensive (for the seed garlic) ones that I horse traded for instead of buying, that I really liked.

It is Killarney Red in my garden. I may need to have some Killian's while cleaning Killarney.

GarlicLady - Sure use the rope idea. I underpriced them and they flew out of the store. I forget the exact price, but it turned out to be around the same price per pound as bulk garlic. I was interested in folks trying different varieties so we (me and the store) could market the hardnecks as gourmet garlics in the future, but the people really liked the variety and weren't necessarily interested in buying just one variety. And, the store turned out to not be interested in carrying 5-7 varieties of garlic separately. They like the one-bin "Organic Garlic" idea. I can understand that though.